EDUCATION. 125 



given by local residents and by the State Colleges, and diplomas 

 are given to the State champions by the Secretary of Agriculture. 

 " Another form of organisation among farni boys which the 

 Department has promoted is the pig club, which is under the 

 direction of the Bureau of Animal Industry, co-operating with 

 the State College. This work was taken up by the Department 

 in 1912, in co-operation with the State of Louisiana, the work 

 having been previously started in that state under the direction 

 of the State University. It has been gradually enlarged and 

 extended until in 1915 (the year of the Report) there were pig 

 clubs in thirteen states, with a total membership of over 9,000. 

 The Federal Department and the State Colleges co-operate in 

 this work in the same way as in the boys' and girls' club work 

 under the States Relation Service, a State club leader being 

 appointed jointly by the Department and the extension division 

 of the State College. The State leader sends out complete infor- 

 mation on how to organise clubs, forms for reporting on the work, 

 advertising posters and other material. In each county or 

 community there is a local leader, who directly supervises the 

 work of the members. The State leader, with the assistance of 

 the offices in Washington, prepares circular letters on the care 

 and management of pigs, and sends them, either direct to the 

 members or to the local club leaders. Each member of a club 

 must secure at least one pig to feed during the season, accord- 

 ing to instructions from the State leader. The boys are encour- 

 aged to get pure-bred sows, if possible, and raise litters of pigs ; 

 or they raise their pigs for meat and become members of the 

 ham-and-bacon clubs. The Department of Agriculture, through 

 the State leader, furnishes instructions on slaughtering and curing 

 the meat to the members of these clubs. 



" The Bureau of Animal Industry, in co-operation with the 

 State Colleges, also has charge of the boys' and girls' poultry 

 club work in the Southern States. In each of the six states 

 which co-operate with the Department in this work there is a 

 State poultry club leader who directs the organisation of the 

 poultry clubs. He travels throughout the state, explaining, 

 both to the members and to their parents, the proper methods 

 of poultry raising. Personal supervision is given by a local 

 leader, who is usually the local school teacher. The object of this 

 type of organisation is the improvement of farm-poultry and the 

 placing of the industry on a more profitable basis. A great 

 increase of interest in poultry raising has been noticed in the 

 states where this work has been conducted. There were in 

 1915 326 boys' and girls' poultry clubs in the six states where 

 this work has been undertaken, with a total membership of 

 3.722. 



" The success of the boys' corn clubs and pig clubs," so the 



